Sucker for a Kebab
If I was told I could only eat one type of food ever, it would be kebabs or skewers. For the time and effort you need to put into preparing and cooking them, you get a disproportionate amount of flavour (in a good way). So when searching for recipes to cook over the F1 weekend in Azerbaijan and coming across these Lyulya Kebabs, I knew early on what I was going to be cooking.
These Lyulya Kebabs are made from minced lamb and remind me of a Kofta. They are really easy to prepare and like most kebabs are packed with loads of flavour.
Preparation and Cook
I started preparing the Lyulya a few hours before I wanted to cook. I do this as it gives the herbs and spices time to infuse into the meat. The other reason is when I have cooked kofta’s before and skewered them, it has been a challenge keeping them on the skewers. Once ready they were wrapped in clingfilm and placed in the fridge for around 4 hours. Just before I wanted to skewer them, I placed them in the freezer for around 20 minutes. This seemed to do the trick of keeping them on the skewer whilst cooking them.
For the cook, I used my Weber GBS Kettle. I always remove the grill plate and bank the charcoal to one side. Having the charcoal banked gives both a direct and indirect zone to help manage the cook. I used Russian Skewers from Manchester Vacs, which are one of my best ever BBQ accessory buys.
I start off kebab cooks aiming to cook them for 16 minutes, turning them every 4 minutes. However, it is worth having an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature of your meat.
The Verdict
The good old kebabs did not let me down. Both my wife and I really enjoyed these. They were nice and juicy but were so flavoursome and once again really simple to make. We cooked them with some Lavash, but I did not roll them thin enough so they were more like flatbreads but still really good. Overall, a real winner of a dish!
Lyulya Kebab
Equipment
- Weber Kettle BBQ
- Thermapen Instant-Read Thermometer
- Russian Skewers
- Charcoal
Ingredients
- 500 g Minced Lamb
- 1 Onion (finely diced)
- 3 Garlic Cloves (minced)
- 1 tsp Cumin
- ¼ cup Parsley (finely chopped)
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Pepper
- ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix all the ingredients with the exception of the lamb mince. Combine well and then add the mince.
- This is the messy bit where you can get your hands into the bowl and combine the ingredients until really really mixed. I would recommend doing this with some food preparation gloves on unless you want smelly hands for a few hours.
- Divide the mince into 4 equal portions and roll into a sausage shape, compacting as much as you can. Place a sheet of clingfilm on the work surface then tightly wrap your lyulya kebab in the clingfilm, and then place them in the fridge. Repeat this for the other kebabs.
- I had my kebabs in the fridge for 4 hours, then placed them in the freezer for 20 minutes. This is to help them stay on the skerwers when cooking (it does work).
- Cook the kebabs for 10-15 minutes, turning regularly. I took mine off when they hit 65°C. It doesn't matter if you cook these a little well-done as they will still taste great.
- Remove and serve with a flatbread and your favourite dip. I also added some Sumac Onions and Salad with mine.
